D-Day Resource Packet - The First Division Museum at Cantigny
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
D-Day
Resource
Packet
U.S. Army Photograph
The First Division Museum
at CantignyCantigny First Division Foundation
First Division Museum at Cantigny
Colonel Robert R. McCormick Research Center
Dear Educator,
This resource packet is designed to provide primary resources for your classroom related
to the invasion of Normandy, France, beginning D-Day 6 June 1944. It includes oral histories,
letters, photographs, maps, newspaper articles and other documents related to the soldiers of
the 1st Infantry Division who landed on Omaha Beach.
The oral histories, diaries, and memoirs have been edited for both length and clarity. Other
documents in the packet are either scans or replicas of the originals. In these cases the text has
not been edited.
The packet has been designed to allow each document to stand-alone or be used in conjunction
with other documents. Included are lesson plans that incorporate multiple sources as well as
discussion questions that go with each individual document.
Please remember all sources are for classroom use only. Any other use requires permission
from the Colonel Robert R. McCormick Research Center or the Chicago Tribune (for
newspaper articles). In addition, these documents are related to war and can be graphic. Please
review all the documents before you have your students use them.
If you have any questions about the resource packet, please contact the Education Department
at 260-8183 or 260-8274. If you need any further research assistance please contact the
Colonel Robert R. McCormick Research Center at 260-8223.
Thank you,
First Division Museum at Cantigny Education Department
1 South 151 Winfield Road, Wheaton, IL 60187-6097 Ph: (630)668-5185 Fax: (630)260-9298
Web Site: http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivisionFirst Division Museum D-Day Resource Packet Contents
Contents
Items:
1. John Thompson. “Tribune Writer Tells of Scene on Invasion Eve.” Chicago Daily
Tribune. 7 June 1944
Provides a description of the preparations for the invasion.
2. John Thompson. “Doughboys Get the Glory For Allies’ Success.” Chicago Daily
Tribune. 9 June 1944.
A journalist’s account of the landing on Omaha Beach.
3. John Thompson. “Tribune Writer Watches Yanks Win A Village.” Chicago Daily Tribune.
10 June 1944.
A report of fighting as the troops pushed inland.
4. Eisenhower’s Letter, 5 June 1944
A letter given to all service members prior to the invasion.
5. Oral History, Lieutenant John Spaulding, E Company, 16th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division
A very detailed account of the initial landings and movement off the beaches.
6. Oral History, Captain Joseph Dawson G Company, 16th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division
A very detailed account of the initial landings and movement off the beaches.
7. Memoirs, Sergeant Ed Ireland, B Company, 745th Tank Battalion, attached 1st Infantry
Division
A tanker’s view of the landings and early hedgerow fighting.
8. Oral History, Staff Sergeant Walter D. Ehlers, K Company, 18th Infantry, 1st Infantry
Division
An infantry soldier’s account of the landings as well as early hedgerow fighting.
9. Platoon Diary, Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon, 16th Infantry, 1st Infantry
Division
A platoon’s description of their landing an early fighting.
10. Captain Joseph Dawson, Letter 16 June 1944
A letter home after being wounded on D-Day.
11. Letter Colonel S.B. Mason, 1st Infantry Division Chief of Staff, to Rear Admiral John L.
Hall, Eleventh Amphibious Force
An analysis of the effects of naval supporting fire on D-Day.
12. Photograph Packet - Contains 10 U.S. Army and Navy photographs
13. Abbreviations and Vocabulary - provides definitions for words, acronyms, and
abbreviations in the packet.
14. Maps
15. Lesson Plans, lesson ideas, and discussion questions
16. SourcesFirst Division Museum D-Day Resource Packet Background Information
D-Day Background Information
Europe in 1944
In 1944 most of Western Europe was under Axis control, including France, Belgium, the Netherlands,
Denmark, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Poland, and Yugoslavia. Germany conquered France in
1940, forcing an unconditional surrender. In 1942 they began preparations against any future invasions
of the French Coast. The coast became known as the Atlantic Wall, which included many coastal
barriers to help the Germans push an invading army back into the English Channel.
German Defenses
The German Army fortified the French Coast for the Allied invasion by creating a line of defenses that
was intended to stop the Allied invasion on the beaches. By 1944 the German Army was engaged
with the Russians on the Eastern front and the Americans and British in Italy. Field Marshall Rommell
felt that if the Germans were going to stop an Allied invasion of France it would have to be on the
beaches. To do this the German Army placed a mass of obstacles in the channel to disrupt an enemy
landing. The most common types of obstacles were hedgehogs, tetrahedra, stakes, and Belgian gates,
many of them mined. Further inland, large stakes with mines were placed in fields to interfere with
airborne landings.
Allied Planning
The Allied invasion of Normandy was a massive operation, having taken two years to plan. It required
the coordination of Allied countries and multiple branches of their armed forces. The Allies had certain
criteria in mind for the landing site. They were looking for specific strategic points that would enable
the operation to succeed. The beach had to be:
- near undamaged ports in South and Southwestern England.
- in the range of Allied fighter planes making runs from bases in England.
- near ports and airstrips that could be taken shortly after the invasion to assist in getting supplies
ashore.
- situated so that air attacks on railways and bridges could isolate the invasion area, not allowing
the Germans to supply and reinforce their troops.
Based on the above criteria, the Allied planners chose a 50-mile stretch of beach along the Normandy
coastline on and east of the Contentin peninsula. U.S., British, and Canadian Forces made the invasion
on 5 beaches along the coast (See map). The U.S. invaded the western beaches, code-named Omaha
and Utah, while the British attacked two eastern beaches, Gold and Sword with the Canadians
in between at Juno. Hours before the invasion both the U.S. and British armies dropped airborne
divisions behind the invasion beaches to disrupt communication and supply lines and secure strategic
areas.First Division Museum D-Day Resource Packet Background Information
The Invasion
The invasion was scheduled for 5 June 1944, but was delayed until 6 June because of poor weather. At
midnight on the 6 June, American and British paratroopers were dropped into France. The weather
and poor visibility caused many of the paratroopers to be scattered, however, they were still able to
reach many of their objectives. H-Hour for the amphibious troops was 0630. Preceding this was a
half hour air and naval bombardment of the coastal defenses. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of the
bombardment was reduced due to poor visibility.
After the naval and air bombardment, the amphibious troops assaulted the five beaches. Navy and
Coast Guard boatmen piloted the landing craft toward the beaches. The infantry landed in various
landing craft up and down the Normandy coast and found varying levels of resistance. As the troops
landed they began the long and difficult process of establishing beachheads in France.
The 1st Division
The 1st Division, landed on Omaha beach as part of Force “O”, consisting of 34,000 men and 3,000
vehicles. Omaha beach was the most heavily fortified of the five beaches with the Germans well
entrenched in the cliffs overlooking the beach. The combat engineers landed first to create gaps in
the obstacles. Unfortunately, many were cut down by German fire before they could detonate their
charges or disarm the many explosives placed in the channel. The engineers suffered 41% casualties
during this first day.
The infantry and vehicles followed the engineers, but because so few gaps were made in the defenses
the infantry soldiers and tanks had a very difficult time getting ashore. The landing craft often had to
let the men off in deep water forcing them to wade through great distances of water to reach the
beach. Unable to reach shore, many tanks and vehicles were lost in the channel. All of this was in the
face of intense machine gun and artillery fire. The 1st Division took Omaha Beach at the cost of 3,000
casualties*.
Overall the Allies invaded and secured five beachheads that day at the cost of approximately 10,000
casualties. However, this provided the Allies with the foothold they needed to begin the campaign
against Nazi-held Europe.
*The term casualty is generally misunderstood as killed in action, however, the number includes those
killed, wounded, and missing in action.First Division Museum D-Day Resource Packet Item # 1 Chicago Daily Tribune 7 June 1944
TRIBUNE WRITER scope of this operation is beyond
superlatives. In months of cover-
in their camouflaged helmets and
their bodies bulky with equipment
TELLS OF SCENE
ing the allied armies’ prepara- against a background of rusting
tions for their task on this island anti-invasion defenses which Brit-
we have gained some knowledge of ain hastily erected in 1940 when
ON INVASION EVE the forces used.
But the last few days in our load-
she feared the Germans would
cross the channel.
ing areas and ports have demon- One by one each soldier walked
strated how hard the allies will thru the checking tent where his
Giant Array of Arms hit when they throw their full name was balanced against each
Backs up Attack. weight against Hitler’s fortified
shores.
ship’s manifest. Then they went on
to the floating docks where Brit-
This time no boys are being sent ish and American sailors loaded
to do a man’s job. There appears them aboard.
[The following dispatch was
written by a Tribune correspon- to be no underestimation of the [Among the troops on one inva-
dent only a few hours before the enemy’s potential. With the expe- sion ship was Sgt. John Connors
allied invasion of Europe began. rience of the Mediterranean cam- of 7714 Morgana st., Chicago. Ac-
Altho not released by censorship paigns behind them, the allies are cording to an Associated Press
until “H-hour” had passed, it gives going against the Germans with dispatch, he said; “I wish this tub
an intimate picture of the vast our heaviest power, best weapons, would get going. Let’s get it over
preparations for attack as wit- and smartest tactics. with and knock their teeth out.
nessed by a war correspondent who Ships Loaded with Vehicles. That’s the way we feel and you can
saw the invasions of North Africa, tell the folks back home that our
Sicily, and Italy.] For miles back into the hinter- morale was never better.”]
lands the roads have been lined
with trucks and other mechanized At a near-by port long lines of
BY JOHN THOMPSON.
equipment. But now those vehicles trucks, jeeps, ambulances, guns,
[Chicago Tribune Press Service.]
are safely stowed aboard ship. But and armor moved slowly but ahead
AT AN INVASION PORT, some-
if the roads are relatively empty of schedule, despite a shift in the
where in England, June 6. – Thou-
now, their abutting areas bulge tides.
sands of soldiers of the American
army are pouring down the quay- with supplies and ammunition Soldiers Wear New Jackets.
sides onto landing craft or waiting carefully camouflaged and dis- Their officers were pleased, too,
their turn as we sit here watching persed. Other areas contain assem- with the new combat jackets the
the beginning of the greatest inva- bly camps. soldiers wear instead of the old
sion ever attempted. Previously we often heard com- web equipment and cumbersome
Spread before us lie hundreds of bat troops speak bitterly of their pack. These jackets, which slip
warships, loaded transports, and fellows in service of supply. But over the regulation field jackets,
landing craft of all kinds await- now the fighting men have noth- are buckled across the front and
ing orders. Other ships attached ing but praise for the way the contain pockets which distribute
to this force already have moved to static troops set up and ran these the soldier’s heavy load and make
the assembly area. marshalling areas for the men it much easier to carry.
who will lead the assault. Warplanes roar overhead in con-
What we still can see is stag-
gering. Yet it is only a part of Those men are standing in long stant thunder on the way to and
one force and our force is only one lines waiting to board the trans- from Europe. Hundreds of small
phase of the entire operation. In ports. Sometimes they laugh and craft dart about the harbor while
almost every port in the United joke in typical American fashion. along shore is the clatter of en-
Kingdom scores of similar scenes More often their faces are stern in gines and winches.
are involving American, British, full knowledge of their hard task. And still long lines of battle-
and other allied troops. But this time, as Maj. Paul Gale clad American soldiers come down
of Lynn, Mass., who had been thru the quaysides, loaded with explo-
It’s Beyond Superlatives.
the Mediterranean campaigns, sives to blast thru any defenses
To those of us who have taken said they are better trained and which may escape our terrific air
part in or observed as correspon- equipped than any of our troops. and sea bombardment.
dents the invasion of North Africa
British Defenses Rusting.
the campaign in Tunisia, or the Copyrighted (7 June 1944), Chicago Tribune Company.
All Rights Reserved. Used with Permission.
invasions of Sicily, and Italy, the They make an incongruous sightFirst Division Museum D-Day Resource Packet Item # 2 Chicago Daily Tribune 9 June 1944
DOUGHBOYS GET of beach obstacles. on them alone rested the final
say as to whether this invasion
These were lines of upright
THE GLORY FOR wooden logs with slanting tim- would succeed. The colonel him-
self was the first man ashore
ALLIES’ SUCCESS bers lashed to them to trip up
our flatbottom barges. There from our small barge, which
were massive steel contraptions moved in immediately following
topped with mines. the assault waves at 8:20 a.m.
Foot Soldiers’ Valor Off to a Bad Start. We had tried once but had been
Won Beachheads. driven off. Then we came again,
But before we had embarked dropping into neck high water
By John Thompson. our colonel had told us a truism: and struggling in loose sand as
[Chicago Tribune Press Service.]
“If anything can go wrong in more bullets splattered about us.
WITH U.S. FORCES IN battle, it will go more wrong in Then we were on the beach, lying
FRANCE, June 7 [Delayed], - an amphibious landing, which is flat in the loose shale behind a
There were thousands of gallant the toughest military offensive tiny ridge, our only protection.
men on the beaches of France operation.”
which this task force seized The dead and wounded sprawled
He was right. Whether because on every side, while medical aid
yesterday. And when you think of the haze, defense machine gun
of the invasion of Europe in big men, lying beside them tried to
fire, or inexperience, the boats save the living.
headlines and it all seems so grounded on the wrong sections
magnificent, remember some of of the beach. Some lowered their Rallies Men for New Push.
these thousands. ramps immediately in front of We were completely at the
In particular, remember the strong points. Even the engineers mercy of the enemy, saved only
gallant 800 riflemen and the were helpless. by naval gunfire and the courage
score of assault engineers who They started lashing their and ability of the soldiers who
first hit the beaches in our sector demolitions to the obstacles, but pressed inland on the flanks. As
and helped make the invasion machine gun fire cut them down it was, the colonel had to scurry
possible. before the charges could be ex- about reorganizing the men still
We laid on one of history’s ploded. Then came the infantry pinned there and getting them
greatest concentrations of naval in waves, many of them also hit- ready for a new push.
gunfire and heavy bombing at- ting the wrong beach sections. He got his men off the beach
tacks, but it still remained for As the soldiers plowed ashore and onto high ground where they
the doughboys to charge ashore thru neck high water and surf, could silence the machine guns
with rifles against the rows of the hidden Germans enjoyed a and push inland. But thruout
beach obstacles and machine gun machine gunners paradise. the day the Germans retained an
nests atop a steep cliff overlook- On and On They Drive. advantage in artillery and made
ing the beach area. the beach a scene of horror and
But this was power, sheer confusion.
The Living Get Priority. power, with which we were to
Many of them of course, will crack Hitler’s fortress, and men But this was a power play, and
never tell the story. They lie kept coming while the naval altho boats were sunk at sea or
in long lines along the beaches guns blasted enemy artillery in as they beached, men and equip-
awaiting burial details, for at the pillboxes many feet thick. And ment somehow forged shoreward
moment the living have priority from well camouflaged positions to reinforce our slim toehold.
and the masses of guns, mecha- which had long been emplated They turned it into a much
nized equipment, ammunition, in the beach approaches German stronger force which, with the
and rations go forward. 88’s laid their fire directly on the aid of naval guns, silenced the
beach. But still our troops kept more menacing batteries.
After the naval barrage yester-
day morning, our first assault coming on tho the beaches were
in shambles and sunken landing ♦Although not specifically stated,
boats made their run in from the John Thompson came ashore with the
big transports. In the first boats barges dotted the sea.
headquarters of the 16th Infantry, 1st
were special engineers laden Our colonel had told his men, Infantry Division
with demolition charges to be many of them veterans of North Copyrighted (9 June 1944), Chicago Tribune Company.
used in blowing gaps in the rows Africa, Tunisia, and Sicily, that All Rights Reserved. Used with Permission.First Division Museum D-Day Resource Packet Item # 3 Chicago Daily Tribune 10 June 1944
TRIBUNE WRITER
west of Ste. Mere-Eglise on the
and disgorged its fleet of small
Caen-Carentan road and miles
craft toward the beaches.
from where we hit the beach. This
WATCHES YANKS town was entered last night by the
tired beachhead soldiers and this
morning after bothersome sharp-
There WAS a wall here.
Row on row of formidable beach
WIN A VILLAGE shooters had been eliminated, was
fully occupied.
obstacles met the first waves of
infantry. Machine gun fire sup-
ported by 88mm positions and
While our task force drove pillboxes pinned them there be-
steadily inland we were still hind a tiny shale ridge for hours.
Wipe Out Sharpshooters awaiting the inevitable German This I can attest, having, as the
counter attack. No one here mini-
in Drive Inland. mizes the enemy’s strength nor his
first correspondent in this group
to touch France lain there with
desire to fight. them while men fell on all sides.
The Germans were ready for us,
For the first time in any landing
BY JOHN THOMPSON. but not wholly ready.
against German held territory
[Chicago Tribune Press Service.]
the allies have been without fear The French men and women
of his air threat during the day- were more concerned at the mo-
WITH AMERICAN TROOPS
light hours. Not a single German ment with what the battle might
IN FRANCE, June 9, - While a
plane has appeared over the trans- do to their small farms and vil-
steady stream of reinforcements
port area in the channel or over lages than with being freed from
continued to roll in over the bit-
the beachhead yesterday or today, German domination.
terly won beachhead, troops in
altho last night several bombers
this sector drove inland, capturing
attacked our fleet transports and
several villages in the face of stiff-
warships and dropped a few bombs
ening resistence.
on the beachheads.
Assault forces moved into high
Fighting Conditions “Horrible.”
ground dominating the river
while waves of allied bombers Outside of the initial resistance
passed overhead, attacking tar- on the beaches, which provided
gets. Allied air domination is so fighting conditions as horrible as
complete that air support is plead- Americans have experienced, the
ing with the ground troops to find enemy has so far confined his ma-
them targets. Before noon nearly jor effort to harassing the beaches
600 prisoners, including some im- with artillery fire from numerous
pressed Russians and Poles, were batteries.
evacuated and more were coming
back from the front. Lt. Gen. Omar Bradley came
ashore today from his command
After weathering the tough- ship to get a first hand picture of
est amphibious landing ever at- the conditions here, but yesterday
tempted by American troops on the gallant men who took this
this side of the Atlantic, the task beachhead and made possible the
force with which I landed slugged landing were on their own.
its way inland further enlarging
the beachhead. Now that we are inland some
miles and holding a bridge, it may
Village Is Occupied. be possible to describe our fighting
during these daylight hours when
Our advance teams pushed
our mighty armada assembled
against Formigny, 20 miles south- Copyrighted (10 June 1944), Chicago Tribune Company.
All Rights Reserved. Used with Permission.First Division Museum D-Day Resource Packet Item #4 Letter from General Eisenhower
First Division Museum D-Day Resource Packet Item # 5 Lt. John Spaulding Oral History
Lieutenant John Spaulding of E Company, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st
Photograph Courtesy of Tina Spalding Gerteisen
Infantry Division landed as part of the initial assault of Omaha Beach. His
platoon was among the first to get off the beach that day. He received a
Distingquished Service Cross, the second highest award for valor given
by the US Army, for his actions. Below are excerpts from his 1945 oral
history.
We loaded into LCVP’s from larger ships at 0300. The
companies were divided into sections, and each LCVP had 32
men, including a medic, plus two navy men....
We unloaded into the LCVP’s in a very rough sea. It took us much longer to load than it
had during the practice landings, because of the rough water. After entering the LCVP’s we
went an undetermined distance to a rendezvous point. Here the Navy crew took us around
and around, getting us soaked to the skin. Many of the men got sick immediately and others
got sick as we went in towards shore....
About 800-1,000 yards out we began to receive machine gun fire from the shore but it was
not effective....
About 0630 we hit the line of departure; someone gave a signal and we swung into line.
When we got about 200 yards offshore the boat halted and a member of the navy crew yelled
for us to drop the ramp. S/Sgt. Fred A. Bisco and I kicked the ramp down. Shortly before
this a navy man had mounted the machine gun on the rear of the LCVP and had started
to return fire. We were now receiving not only MG fire, but also mortar and some artillery
fire.
We had come in at low tide and the obstacles were noticeable. They stuck out of the water
and we could see teller-mines on many of them. No path had been cleared through them, so
we followed a zigzag course in....
Because we were carrying so much equipment and because I was afraid that we were being
landed in deep water, I told the men not to jump out until after I had tested the water. I
jumped out of the boat slightly to the left of the ramp into water about waist deep. It was
about 0645. Then the men began to follow me. We headed ashore and the small arms fire
became noticeable. We saw other boats to our left, but nothing to the right. We were the
right front line of the 1st Division.....
Our first casualty came at the water’s edge. Pvt. William C. Roper, rifleman, was hit in
the foot by small arms fire just as he hit the beach. He kept trying to get his legging off,
but couldn’t reach the lacing, so I helped him get it off. Just after we got ashore one of my
two BAR men was hit. Pfc. Virgil Tilley was hit in the right shoulder by a shell fragment,
which drove a hunk of his shoulder out towards the back but did not come all the way
through.
By this time I noticed a number of my men on the beach, all standing up and moving across
the sand. They were too waterlogged to run, but they went as fast as they could. It looked
as if they were walking in the face of a real strong wind. We moved on across the shale to a
house, which was straight inland. The first place we stopped was at a demolished building;First Division Museum D-Day Resource Packet Item # 5 Lt. John Spaulding Oral History
there was some brush around. We were halted there by a minefield at the first slope…Down
near the water’s edge we ran into wire. S/Sgt. Curtis Colwell blew a hole in the wire with a
bangalore. We picked our way through.
I tried to get E Co with my 536 radio. I took the 536 off my shoulder, worked the antenna
out as I walked across and tried to get contact, but it didn’t work. I looked down and saw the
mouthpiece was shot away…. When we got up to the rubble by the demolished house we were
built up as skirmishers and were returning what fire we could. Streczyk and Pfc. Richard
J. Gallagher went forward to investigate the mine field. They decided that we couldn’t cross
it….
On our left we had by-passed a pillbox, from which MG fire was coming and mowing down F
Co people a few hundred yards to our left. There was nothing we could do to help them. We
could still see no one to the right and there was no one up to us on the left. We didn’t know
what had become of the rest of E Co. Back in the water boats were in flames. I saw a tank
ashore about 0730-0745. After a couple of looks back we decided we wouldn’t look back any
more.
About this time Gallagher said to follow him up the defilade which was about 400 yards
to the right of the pillbox. We were getting terrific small arms fire but few were hit. About
this time we were nearly at the top of the hill. We returned fire but couldn’t hit them….
When Gallagher found the way up I sent word back for my men to come up to the right….
Sgt. Bisco kept saying: “Lieutenant watch out for the damn mines.” They were the little box
type mine and it seems that the place was infested with them, but I didn’t see them. We lost
no men coming through them, although H Co coming along the same trail a few hours later
lost several men. The Lord was with us and we had an angel on each shoulder that trip.
Trying to get the machine gun above us Sgt. Blades fired his bazooka and missed. He was
shot in the left arm almost immediately. Pfc. Curley, a rifleman, was shot down next. S/Sgt.
Phelps, who had picked up Tilley’s BAR on the beach, moved into position to fire and was
hit in both legs. By this time practically all of my section had moved up. We decided to
rush the machine gun about 15 yards away….As we rushed the lone German operating the
gun threw up his hands and yelled “Kamerad”. We would have killed him, but we needed
prisoners for interrogating, so I ordered the men not to shoot him. He was Polish. He said
that there were 16 Germans in the area: that they had been alerted that morning and were
told to hold the beach…. He also said that he had not shot at Americans, although I had seen
him hit three.
At this point Lt. Blue of G Co came up and contacted me. He had come up our trail. His
company had landed in the second wave behind us. Just a few minutes later Capt. Dawson of
G Co came along. We still saw no one on the right. Capt. Dawson asked me if I knew where E
Co was and I told him I didn’t know. He said that E Co was 500 yards to my right, but he was
thinking in terms of where they were supposed to land; they were actually 500-800 yards
to our left. I later found out that they had lost 121 men. Dawson said that he was going into
Coleville and told us to go in to the right. He had about two sections. Said he just saw the
battalion commander….
We were on top of the hill by 0900. Advanced cautiously. We were the first platoon of the
16th to hit the top. Now I ha[d] 21-22 men in my section….First Division Museum D-Day Resource Packet Item # 6 Oral History Excerpt Captain Joseph T. Dawson
Captain Joseph T. Dawson landed with G Company, 16th Infantry,
Photograph Courtesy of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library
1st Infantry Divsion during the assault on Omaha Beach.
Dawson’s group of men were among the first to find their way
off the beach. Dawson was awarded the Distinguished Service
Cross, the second highest award for valor from the US Army,
for his actions on D-Day. Below are excerpts from his 1991 oral
history:
I landed, and I was the first man off of my boat, or
off of all of our boats, followed by my communication
sergeant and my company clerk. Unfortunately, my boat was hit with a direct hit, so the
rest of my headquarters company was wiped out as well as the little flight control officer
from the navy, which was our communication, to give us the support fire that was supposed
to give us the cover and the neutralizing of the little village of Colleville, which was the
objective that I was given, assigned as my objective for the day....
Now, I felt the obligation to lead my men off [the beach]…. There was a little minefield
immediately behind the shingle or a shelf on a rock-coasted gravel. There’s really not
any sand on the beaches there in Normandy. It’s an arkosic gravel of light, sharp-pointed
material, but it washed up into a mound that gave them some little protection against the
firing, but not a whole lot. But we dropped over that and got into this minefield. And there
was a body of a boy who had found the minefield and unfortunately also found the mine
and destroyed himself, but he pointed the way for us to go across him, which we did. And
Sergeant Cleff and myself and Baldridge, another man in my company, started up the hill.
And as I can recall, I think the beach at Normandy was a very unusual beach in that
it came down from a great height of over 250 yards in a sloped manner until it reached
the beach water, but the whole defenses of the Germans were right on the crest of that
overlooking the beach, except for the pillboxes that were encased within that whole area of
the back of the beach.
I found this path….it seemed to generally go in the right direction toward the crest of the
hill, and so I started up that way. And about half way there I encountered Lieutenant
Spaulding with a remnant of his platoon. I think he had two squads and a person in a third
squad, and they were the only survivors that I knew of at that time of E company. And he
joined us at that time and became part of us. And my men were still on the beach.
I was up there pretty much alone, so I told Baldridge to go back and bring the men up.
I said, “They’ve got to get off the beach. Tell them to come up here with me.” Well they
started up there, but I had gone on ahead. And just before you reach the crest of the ridge, it
becomes almost vertical for about 10-foot drop. And there was a log there and I got behind
the log to see if I could see my men coming up, and they were beginning to filter. I could
see a single file beginning to develop off of the beach and coming on up when I heard a
great deal of noise just above me and, sure enough, there was a machine gun nest up there
and they were giving us a lot of trouble. And I was able to get within a few yards of them
because they couldn’t see me.
I was…in…because of the steep protection there of the crest of the ridge, and they were rightFirst Division Museum D-Day Resource Packet Item # 6 Oral History Excerpt Captain Joseph T. Dawson
on the crest in a trench. I lobbed a couple of grenades in there and silenced them and, sure
enough, that opened the beach up. It was a miracle. It doesn’t mean anything on my part. It
was just one of those wacky things that happen, that I was right on the spot between E1 and
E2 or E3, I forget which it was.
[E1 and] E3 were the two exits that we had anticipated would be the exits off the beach. We
didn’t get them open until the next day. And the only place on which that whole beach was
able to get off was through that point that we established. We had a firefight from there[the
bluffs] on into the village of Colleville, but we were successful in being able to do it as a
unit and my men did a superb job on getting there.
There was a calm over us. There was a calm and a mutual respect began to develop, and
it was almost incredible. I felt it in every one of my men. We had casualties. We had lost
men there on the beach. We had two or three suffered in this battle. And when we took our
positions in the town, and we fought into it and I led my men in there, and the little village
was dominated by a church with a steeple in it and from that steeple had been one of the
forward observers of the Germans and they were directing artillery fire down on the beach.
And I went in the church with two of my men, a sergeant and a private and we had a little
encounter in there with the Germans. And I lost the private. The sergeant and I both were
able to survive and we were able to neutralize the situation.
And as I left the building and started across the street from the church, there was a
farmhouse in the typical French manner, the farmhouse was enclosed with an open
courtyard but with the farm buildings making somewhat of a square. And it was there that
the bulk of my men had congregated after we had taken the village.
And as I was going across the road, a sniper caught me with a bullet through my left
knee and, it frightened me. And I was carrying a carbine, was the only time that I had a
weapon other than my 45, but I had that and the bullet had gone through the stock, and
the fragments, one of them lodged in my knee and the other came through the fleshy part
of my right leg, which somewhat incapacitated me, but I didn’t think anything about it at
the time. But then I debouched my men into a defensive position around the town, and after
there had been a little firefight [that] develop[ed] from the Germans that had shot at me
down at the end of the street, they had the town completely in control. And this was about
3:30 in the afternoon.
But at 4:00 we were devastated with artillery barrage from the navy. It leveled the town,
absolutely leveled it, and in doing so we suffered the worst casualties we had the whole day,
not from the enemy but from our own navy. I was angered by it, angered beyond all measure
because I thought it was disgraceful. And I was quite bitter about it and the general was
very bitter about it until we brought the matter to the attention of the authorities and,
sure enough, the navy’s response was that the order called for the leveling of Colleville at
H+60 minutes or as soon thereafter as visibility would permit.
Well the pall of battle was over us. And there was no vision and we had no communication
because my control officer, fire officer, had been destroyed on the beach and so I had…[not]
been able to identify myself until the barrage leveled us. And by that time I was frantically
throwing up smoke bombs to alert them to the fact that we were in the town, but it was too
late to prevent the barrage from occurring. But their contention was that the pall of battle
had obscured their vision until 4:00 that afternoon, which was H+8 hours or H+10 hours.
And they said that was when visibility permitted it....First Division Museum D-Day Resource Packet Item # 7 Sergeant Ed Ireland Memoirs
Sgt. Ed Ireland was part of B Company, 745th Tank Battalion, which was
attached to the 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division for the
invasion of Normandy. The battalion remained attached to the division
for the remainder of the war. Sgt Ireland later received a Silver Star for
actions in Aachen, Germany, on 17 October 1944. Below is an excerpt
Photograph Courtesy of Ed Ireland
from his 1995 memoirs discussing the landing and early fighing.
The LSD let our LCM’s with Co. B off out in the Channel and
we headed for shore. Our LCM’s went in as far as they could
and let us off in about 6 or 8 feet of water - nearly to the top
of our turret. As we plowed toward shore and as my periscope
came above the water, I could see the 90-foot cliff in front of
us. I wanted to get a picture of it so I pushed my hatch open part of the way to take a picture.
Just then we ran into a shell hole and the water poured into my hatch. I got wet but kept
going-and it felt good as it was quite hot inside the tank.
As we got closer to shore, the wreckage and bodies lined the shore. I had to drive around
them the best I could. It was an awful sight to see. I think all of Co. B tanks made it to shore
okay. One of Headquarters’ jeeps took a direct hit. We didn’t know until later that three
men had been wounded. There was supposed to be an opening up the cliff but we couldn’t
find one. With the help of the Engineers who located a path, we were able to make it up.
Good thing, as the tide was coming in and the shoreline was shrinking. We had to get off the
beach.
Co. B and some Infantry from the 16th attacked the town of Colleville-Sur-Mer, which was
in great ruins. We spent the next three days there inside our tanks. The German Artillery
coming in was bad. Then we fought our way into St. Lo and we had to watch out for bomb
craters-they were everywhere. They were filled with water 20-30 feet deep and one could
drown if you went into one. We were lucky on the beach as the pill boxes were built into the
cliffs and most of the openings were on both sides. This was so they could shell both Utah
and Omaha Beach. They did take a heavy toll of landing crafts and personnel. They had
called Omaha “Easy Red” but I believe it should be changed to “Bloody Red”. Finally, the
heavy Navy guns and planes silenced them. Many prisoners were taken from the pill boxes
and many had been killed.
As we moved out of St. Lo. under heavy shelling we came into the hedgerows which were a
very big problem at first. They were dirt-like fence rows about 8 to 10 feet high with only
a couple of openings. The German’s had the opening pinpointed. A couple of tanks tried to
go over the hedgerows but either the tanks were turned over backwards or the underside
was exposed, causing the tanks to be knocked out by small arms fire. One of the men in
Ordinance got the idea of fitting the front of the tanks with teeth about three feet long. The
tank could make a pathway through the hedgerows by running up against them and taking
out a large portion. Later one tank in each company was fitted with a dozer blade, and this
really made things happen. We were able to bury many German machine gun nests under
the hedgerows as well as some of the Germans inside them.First Division Museum D-Day Resource Packet Item # 8 Oral History Excerpt S/Sgt Walter D. Ehlers
Staff Sergeant Walter Ehlers, L Company, 18th Infantry, 1st Infantry
Division, landed on Omaha Beach, shortly after the first assault
wave. Below is an account of his platoon’s landing and fighting in the
first days after the invasion He received the Medal of Honor, the
nation’s highest award for valor, for actions on 9-10 June 1944.
U.S. Army Photograph
I was on an LCI with the headquarters company,
because they took us off as a platoon. And then we were
out there, …it was dark…following…the first wave….
And we could see the ships were out there, most of them
sitting off shore…quite a ways off shore, but you could
see land….
…What was going through my mind is how could there be any resistance on the beach when
you saw all those bombers and all those ships firing on that beach and everything…. Then
the first wave landed.... When the assault boats came back and...said that they needed more
troops on the beach immediately…[They] took us off and then rendezvoused and got about
three or four boats together, and then we headed in to the beach. And when we were going
in, there were ducks…amphibious trucks out there, and some of them were being swamped.
And even some of the landing craft like the ones that we were in were bailing out because
they’d gotten hit by shells….the water was rough….we headed in. [W]e thought we were
going to come up to the beach and land, but we hit a sandbar, so the ramp goes down and we
go out the front. As soon as we go out the front we land in the water, and it’s up around my
armpits, where some of our shorter guys, up around their necks.
…We had to be coming right in between the 16th and the 116th …when they called them, why,
there was one on this side, one on this side. So they were kind of mixed up there on the
beach. It was daylight…right after the first wave. And the first wave hadn’t made it up to
the hill yet.
They [G-Company] were way down to our left, though. He [Capt. Joe Dawson] was a lot
further down. …I landed…on the draw of the Easy Red. He landed to the left of it….
….I said, “Come on.” …The other leaders were yelling at their troops to get up and move
out…. So we start rushing, and then…a beach commander…says that we’ll stick to that path
because it’s been made by people who have already been up that far, clearing the mines. In
other words, they’d stepped on mines. There were guys laying right and left of the path. We
went up there…
…When we got to the barbed wire we had to stop. There… were bangalore torpedo men that
had blown the previous wire, so we asked them if they’d blow this last role of wire for us.
…They did, and we got a guy up there. I rushed with my squad right on through that and we
got up into the trenches. And once when we got in the trenches…we were able to overcome
the Germans….
…On the night of the seventh or the eighth…[w]e were in on a hedgerow position…for the
night, and it was probably close to 10:00, 11:00 at night, and we heard all of this screaming
and yelling…the Germans had…infiltrated into the company area. And then…somebody in
the company fired on it, but then they came running in our position, they ran right over
where we were bedded down…we were kind of in a ditch so we’d be in a defila[d]ed area….. We
didn’t fire on them, because we knew that our troops were down there to the right and to theFirst Division Museum D-Day Resource Packet Item # 8 Oral History Excerpt S/Sgt Walter D. Ehlers
left, and so if we fired on them we’d probably had a firefight all amongst ourselves….
…The company commander, sent down word that they wanted…a patrol sent after the
Germans….I had to take a patrol out. …I didn’t…know where we were, but came to this road
right off of the field where we were, and… followed this road. And it was hedgerows on both
sides, and it’s dark, and it’s really dark when you get down in those rows…
…[W]e went down this road, and we were following them, and we could hear them…
retreating back down the road, and so we followed them a ways.…And we ran across a
briefcase that one of them had dropped, and we picked it up and we took it with us. I told
the squad, “I think we have gone far enough.” So we went back…and we took the briefcase
up to the company commander, and it contained a bunch of maps showing [the]…second and
third line of defense from the German beach positions.
…On the ninth and tenth of June…we seemed to be hitting all the German positions right on
the nose, and that’s the two days for which I got the Medal of Honor.
Well the first thing that happened, we were attacking, we had one platoon over in one field
– all the fields are surrounded by hedgerows – and we were in another field attacking. And
I had the lead squad in that platoon, and …the other platoon was being fired upon. As soon
as they were being fired upon from the other hedgerow, and I knew…it was coming from
up ahead of us, so I had my squad rush up to the hedgerow rather than be out in the field,
because I’ve seen what happens when you get caught out in the field getting fired on from
the hedgerows. It’s very easy to get picked off.
So we got up into the hedgerow, and when I went up to the hedgerow – and I was ahead
of the squad – and I heard these Germans on the other side, so I ran up on the hedgerow,
and here’s some patrol of Germans coming down there. …I was shooting them …from the
hip… just going along there, and knocked off four of them there. And then I went up the
hedgerow and there was a machine gun firing from a position out across at our people over
there, and I attacked the machine gun nest, and I shot them all.
But then I had my men fix the bayonets, because when I looked I suddenly realized that…my
clip had just changed, and I had to reload. And so I figured, well, if I ran out of ammunition
when I was going up one of these things, what was I going to do? …So we went on further,
and we started attacking, and came up on another machine gun nest, and I knocked it
out. And then we came up – and that was right out in front of an area of mortar section,
and when I came up over the ridge …and there was two mortars there, shooting….I ran up
over the ridge with my bayonet fixed…and when the Germans saw… they left. They started
running, and I had to shoot them…but thank goodness I didn’t have to use my bayonet.
…Then the next day, on the tenth of June, we were on an attack again…and we got into an
untenable position. Now, here we are in a hedgerow situation where we had Germans in
front of us and there were Germans on the hedgerows on both sides of us…. The platoon
leader wanted us to withdraw back to his hedgerow…so that we could…regroup the company
and keep from getting all of our people killed. But there was no way that our guys were
going to get back without getting picked off. So there was a mound there and I stood up on
it, and me and the rifleman…were firing in a semi-circle around the area….
…We let the rest of the squad withdraw, and then we started going back. And as I got back
almost to the hedgerow, right down the hedgerow probably about 50, 75 yards there w[ere]
Germans putting in a machine gun position down there pointed out that way. And so as
they were putting it in I knocked off the three of them that had that machine gun, and I
got hit in the back at the same time and it spun me around. And I saw a German up in the
hedgerow…I was at a gate-type situation. …There was an open space there. So I was standingFirst Division Museum D-Day Resource Packet Item # 8 Oral History Excerpt S/Sgt Walter D. Ehlers
right…in the middle of a hedgerow, except in the gate position. So I had a view of this
hedgerow over here and… [the] other two areas there. …I saw a German in the hedgerow…and
I shot him from the hip, you know, because I didn’t have my gun up here. And he fell out of
the hedgerow, and I thought, gee, this looks like a John Wayne movie.
He was probably about 100 yards [away]. And so he fell out, and I noticed my rifleman had
got hit, and he called to me, so I went over and I got him and helped him back across the
hedgerow. And…we couldn’t carry his B[A]R at that time, so I went back and got it, and
while they were firing on me, and came back across the hedgerow….
So when they got back to the company, and we had the medics dressing the wound on our
rifleman, and they were about ready to take him away, and I said, “Well, sir,” to the company
commander, I said, “I’ve been wounded in the back.” He said, “You have?” I said, “Yes.” He
turned me around, and saw this hole in the back of my pack, my trench shovel….
And this bullet looked like it came straight through me, you know, and out the back of my
pack. And he said, “My God, you’ve been shot clear through, you should be dead!” I said, “No
sir, I’m not dead. I just got hit in the back.”
So they took off my pack, and of course the blood was already coming out of there, but they
knew I got hit somewhere. So they raised up my shirt, and they saw where it hit my rib here,
and it went into the pack, hit the bar of soap, and the bar of soap turned the bullet and it
went straight out the shovel.First Division Museum D-Day Resource Packet Item # 9 I & R Platoon Diary 6 June 1944
The Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon of the 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division landed
on Omaha Beach. Their objective was to move ashore and then scout the area ahead. The following is
an excerpt from their platoon diary for D-day.
D-Day
June 6, 1944
In the pre-dawn darkness the I & R Platoon started climbing
down the nets of the U.S.S. Henrico and the U.S.S. Chase into
the waiting assault craft. Under a sky overcast with dark, heavy
clouds the craft moved toward the shore of France. From the
distance came the rumble of aerial bombardment, an occasional
flash of a direct hit, the flicker of far away fires.
The choppy waters of the English Channel began to tell.
Paper bags issued to each man filled as even the strongest
stomachs succumbed. Men with taut nerves, set faces, talked of
this and that, anything to keep their minds off the job that lay
only minutes ahead….
On the assault craft debarking from the U.S.S. Henrico
were two patrols of six and eight men whose mission following
the landing was to infiltrate several miles ahead of the line
companies to two prominent hills there to set up an Observation
Post and by radio transmit information back to headquarters
regarding the movements of the enemy….
At 7:10 (H-Hour plus 50) the first I & R landing craft struck
bottom approximately two hundred yards off shore. The ramp went
down and out the men went into an inferno of machine gun fire
from the height above the beach, cross-fired so it seemed to cover
every square foot, into mortar fire and artillery fire. Through
the waist deep water men by the hundred waded beachward as the
murderous fire cut them down. Those who reached the shore found
sanctuary behind a ledge that screened off the small arms fire.
As far as the eye could see bodies were packed behind this
ledge, men who were moaning with pain and those who would moan
no more. The medics were everywhere dressing wounds and rescuing
men which the incoming tide stretched out its lengthening
tentacles to impound. To the left our planes were dive bombing
an active pillbox as devastating machine gun fire still swept
the water. Heavier equipment began to come in. Tanks remained
submerged save for protruding cannon barrel.
Preinvasion briefing stated that the ground just ahead was
crammed with mines. It was impossible to move forward untilFirst Division Museum D-Day Resource Packet Item # 9 I & R Platoon Diary 6 June 1944
there was at least one breach in the mine field. Behind the men
the tide crept relentlessly onward. Artillery and mortar fire
grew heavier. It seemed only a matter of time until all were
annihilated and the invasion a dismal failure. Men lay there
for what seemed like hours but actually could have been little
over an hour. Troops still came onto the jammed beach, and others
were swallowed up by the insatiable sea. Many unable to reach
the shore because of wounds were rescued by those who left their
ledge haven to reenter the arena of death….
At long last the engineers cleared a path through the mine
field. A trickle of foot troops moved through the breach, past
a demolished building toward the first hill. Platoon Leader Hill
rallied the men of the I & R behind him and took off on a dead
run for the mine field breach. A step off the cleared path would
be fatal. In a matter of minutes the first troops through the
mine field were silhouetted on the hill above the beach. One by
one the machine gun nests were silenced. The trickle of troops
through the white-tape marked breach through the mines swelled to
a flood as the 26th Infantry regiment landed to support the 16th
Infantry.
The I & R Platoon reached the first hill and dug in around
Regimental Headquarters. For lack of communication equipment the
scheduled patrols were cancelled. The landing had taken a heavy
toll of the platoon. All of the three trained first scouts had
been wounded or killed.
After reaching the first hill, the remainder of the afternoon
was spent digging foxholes, making excursions back to the
beach to reclaim valuable communications equipment. In the
afternoon the I & R jeeps came ashore amid artillery fire which
continued throughout the day. The jeeps landed in three feet
of salt water…. Under the cover of a hill the drivers began
dewaterproofing their vehicles.
As the day wore on, the tide receded leaving behind a
graveyard of humanity and equipment. “Mae West” life preservers
lay everywhere, combat packs, rifles, ammunition, personal
belongings were strewn all over the beach and adjacent area.
Darkness settled over Omaha Beach near Colleville-sur-Mer,
France, bloodiest of the three beachheads established in Fortress
Europe on the 6th of June, 1944. Out ahead of the Regimental
Command Post, members of the I& R Platoon stood guard....First Division Museum D-Day Resource Packet Item #10 Letter from Captain Joseph T. Dawson
Captain Joseph Dawson landed on Omaha Beach with the 16th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division. He
led one of the first groups off the beach and up into the bluffs overlooking Omaha Beach. He was
wounded later in the day as his company moved in to take the town of Colleville-sur-Mer. He
was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army’s second highest award for valor, for his
actions. Below is a letter he wrote to his family after being treated and returning to his company in
the field.
June 16, 1944
An apple orchard in
Normandy
My dearest family:
You must forgive me for not writing a detailed letter to you before now because
there were certain things that occurred to prevent me from gathering my thoughts
together long enough to inscribe them. However, my V-mail should have provided
you with the dope that all is well, which of course, is the main thing. My slight
incapacitation is now coming along nicely and offers no presentable difficulty, so I am
once more with my men and my heart is happy. One never realizes the utter loneliness
of separation until he has had the privilege of living and being part of the finest
group of men on the face of the earth. The platitudes of those who spend their lives
recording the deeds of courageous men are in truth the expression of the artisans
of literary word binding compared to those thoughts that can never be put into
words by the men who see and live the intimate relationship of mutual sufferers in
this greatest of ordeals. What I’m trying to say is that justice can never be properly
accorded to the magnificent fortitude and heroism of the fine American soldier and
man. He is without peer and these past few days have implanted in the hearts of all a
realization of the true greatness of these men. I say this because I’ve had an honour
never to be equaled in being a part of a group that will ever stand as a symbol of
greatness to all who witnesses or know how they measured up to the supreme test
without faltering or wavering. I cannot say more for my heart forbears it, but God is
my Witness that the men of my company lived, fought and died in true glory.
The story of our coming to France has been told a thousand times over by all the
newsmen of the world and tales of individual heroism are recorded for all to read and
become inspired. But none surpassed either in deed or in action “my” men. I shall not
be able to give in detail all that did transpire, but with restrained licence of censorship
you can judge for yourselves just how we met and overcame our enemies. TarawaFirst Division Museum D-Day Resource Packet Item #10 Letter from Captain Joseph T. Dawson
and all the other terrible beachheads of this war have nothing on the murderous hell
that descended upon us as we touched the shores of France. All the many weapons
of war seemed to be concentrated on that naked, exposed bit of sand and the
miracle of it all was the fact that I still cannot tell just how I crossed it or how my
men managed--but we did! Though many fell as we moved through this storm of steel,
they didn’t falter an instant, but we came on without stopping. I shall never forget
how on reaching a point several hundred yards from the water’s edge, a point where
a very small bit of protection was afforded by a bit of a mound of gravel. There was a
sergeant laying there and two men and seeming refusing to advance. I exhorted them
strongly to follow me and looking back over my shoulder I saw them still remaining on
the ground. I returned a few steps and again shouted to them to come along when I
suddenly realized that they would never move again. It only made me realize how much
more it was necessary for me to go on forward.
My company pressed on, however, and only pausing a few seconds to get their
breath stormed the heights commanding the beach and with this successful assault
we were able to secure the beach for the other units to come ashore. Throughout
that day and night and the next day we were constantly busy and at times were
engaged literally eye to eye with the jerries. All I can say is we were able to stand on
our own and hold our ground against his constant attacks.
I took a short leave to get a piece of adhesive tape for my knees, and the darned
medics kept me on a Cook’s tour for about five days before I was able to elude them
and return home. Now after three days with the constant shelling and firing all
along here I am once more restored to a good nervous state. Nothing is more nerve-
wracking than being attended by a bunch of solicitous nurses and doctors, though,
seriously, they are the unsung heroes of this war and their marvelous work of caring
for the wounded and suffering is something without parallel. They were simply
magnificent.
All of which brings me down to the present and here amid the apple trees of this
bit of France, with the symphony of war encompassing me I have found peace of heart
and soul never before attained in all my life for here I am with the bravest, finest,
grandest bunch of men that God ever breathed life into. Before it’s all over you will
know that this is true and that this company is my life.
God bless you one and all,
JoeYou can also read
